Carpet-stretcher



No. 620,l20. Patented Feb. 28, I899.

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CARPET SITRETGHEB.

(Application filed Apr. 25, 1898.) (No Model.)

UNITED STATES;

PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM FRANKLIN GRIGSBY, OF MOUNT CARMEL, ILLINOIS.

GARPET- STRE'I CHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,120, dated February 28, 1899.

Application filed April 25,1898- Serial No. 678,787. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FRANKLIN GRIGSBY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mount Carmel, in the county of Wabash and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Carpet-Stretcher, of which the following is a specification. I

The invention relates to improvements in carpet-stretchers. l

The object of the present invention is to im-: prove the construction of carpet-stretchers and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient device adapted to be easily handled and capable of enabling a carpet to be readily stretched and securely held While the same is being tacked or otherwise secured to a floor.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carpet-stretcher constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the central portion of the device. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the same. ,1

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 designates an operating-lever having an upper handle portion and a lower slotted or bifurcated portion 2, in which is pivoted, by a transverse pin or bolt 3, a stretching-bar 4, carrying at its outer end a carpet-engaging head 5. The carpet-engaging head 5 consists of a transverse bar centrally secured to the bar 4: and supported by braces 7 and provided at its outer face with projections or teeth 8, adapted to engage the carpet to be stretched.

The transverse pin or bolt 3, which pivots the bar 4 to the lever 2, is located at a point between the end of the operating-lever and passes through a longitudinal slot or opening 9 of a ratchet-bar 10, which is provided at its outer end with a head 11, adapted to bear against the washboard of a room and designed to be padded or cushioned to avoid niarring the same. The ratchet-bar, which is provided at its upper and lower edges with teeth 12 and 13, is engaged by upper and lower pawls 14 and 15, mounted in the slot or bifurcation of the operating-lever and located at opposite sides of the ratchet-bar.

The pawls are spring actuated and are adapted when the operating-lever is oscillated to engage the teeth of the ratchet-bar alter nately and force the movable stretching-bar outward. The upper pawl 5 is pivoted at its inner end and the lower pawl is pivoted between its ends, and both pawls are connected by rods 16 and 17 with latch-levers 18 and 19, of bell-crank form, fulcrumed on the operatin g-lever. The bell-crank latch-levers, which are located at opposite sides of the operatinglever, are connected at their angles to the rods 16 and 17, and their short substantially horizontal arms are pivoted in recesses of'the operating-lever. In operating, the device to extend the stretching-bar the operating-lever is, grasped above the latch-levers and is oscillated, and when it is desired to disengage the device from a carpet anddrawthe bar 4 inward the operator grasps the latch-levers, which disengage the pawls from the ratchet bar. The latch-levers are arranged adjacent to the handle portion of the operating-lever, so that the operator simply moves his hand downward a short distance to grasp them.

The pawls are held in engagement with the ratchet-bar by springs 20, interposed between the, upper portions of the latch-levers and the operating-lever. The rod 16, which is shorter than the rod 17, is connected with the upper pawl at a point between the pivot and its en: gaging end, and the longer connecting-rod is attached to the lower pawl at the back thereof at a point beyond the pivot, and by this ar rangement the engaging points of the pawls will be thrown outward. from the ratchet-bar when the latch-levers are compressed against the operating-lever.

The lower end of the operating-lever, which is supported upon the floor, is provided with a roller 21, journaled between the sides of the slotted or forked portion 2 and projecting beyond the same. The roller enables the operating-lever to move over a carpet without Wearing or otherwise injuring the same.

The invention has the following advantages: The carpet-stretcher, which is simple and comparatively inexpensive in construction, is easily operated and is adapted to stretch a carpet and hold the same while it is being tacked to a floor, and the device can be operated to stretch successively the widths or dilferent portions of the carpet. The latchlevers enable the pawls to be readily disengaged from the ratchet-bar, and as the lower end of the operating-bar is provided with a roller or wheel the stretching-bar may be readily drawn backward to arrange the parts for another stretching operation.

Changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What I claim is 1. A carpet-stretcher comprising two longitudinal bars provided at their outer ends with engaging devices,mechanism for advancing one of the bars on theot-her, and a lever connected with and adapted to operate such mechanism, said lever extending below and supporting the inner ends of both of the bars and holding the same above the floor and adapted to slide over the latter during the stretching operation, substantially as described.

2. A carpet-stretcher comprising a ratchetbar having an engaging end or head and provided with upper and lower teeth, and having a longitudinal slot or opening, a stretching-bar provided at its outer end with a carpet-engaging head, an operating-lever having an opening receiving said bar, a pivot pass ing through theoperating lever, the stretching-bar and the slot of the ratchet-bar, upper and lower pawls mounted in the opening of the operating-lever and engaging the ratchetbar, latch-levers f ulcrumed on the handle portion of the operating-lever at opposite sides tially as described.

3. In a carpetstretcher, the combination of a ratchet-bar provided with upper and lower teeth, a stretching-bar, alever pivoted between its ends to the stretching-bar, upper and lower pawls mounted on the lever and engaging the ratchet-bar, and a pulley or wheel journaled on the lower end of the lever "and adapted to support the device, substantially as described.

4. A carpet-stretcher comprising a ratchetbar having an outer engaging end and extending longitudinally of the device, a 1ongitudinal stretching-bar having an outer engaging end, and an operating-lever extending upward from the inner portions of the bars, connecting the same and provided with means for engaging the ratchet-bar, said lever having its lower portion depending below the bars and provided with a projecting wheel arranged to rest upon the floor to support the device, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses WILLIAM FRANKLIN GRIGSBY.

Witnesses:

J. M. MITCHELL, F. L. WEST. 

